Editing Johnny Jacobs

{{Short description|American game show announcer (1916–1982)}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
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| name                    = Johnny Jacobs
| image                   = Johnny_Jacobs_in_Batman_1966.jpg
| caption                 = Johnny Jacobs in Batman 1966
| birth_name              = John Byron Jacobs
| birth_date              = {{Birth date|1916|06|22}}
| birth_place             = [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]
| death_date              = {{Death date and age|1982|02|08|1916|06|22}}
| death_place             = [[Stockton, California]]
| resting_place           = 
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| othername               = 
| occupation              = Announcer
| years_active            = 
| spouse                  = 
| domestic_partner        = 
| children                = 
| website                 = 
}}

'''John Byron Jacobs''' (June 22, 1916 &ndash; February 8, 1982) was an American television announcer, often for [[Chuck Barris]] productions—namely, ''[[The Newlywed Game]]'' and ''[[The Dating Game]]''.

==Early life==
He was born in [[Wisconsin]].<ref>[https://psmag.com/environment/how-to-detect-shoddy-wikipedia-entries-87699 "How to Detect Shoddy Wikipedia Entries"], Ryan Jacobs, August 13, 2014, Pacific-Standard</ref>

==Early career==
===Radio===
Jacobs was the announcer for ''The Steve Allen Show'' on [[CBS]] in 1950. The program was a summer replacement for ''[[Our Miss Brooks#Radio|Our Miss Brooks]]'', which starred [[Eve Arden]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Morse|first1=Leon|title=The Steve Allen Show|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_UDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Steve+Allen%22+%22Johnny+Jacobs%22&pg=PA37|accessdate=14 April 2015|magazine=Billboard|date=July 1, 1950|page=37}}</ref> In 1952–1953, he was the announcer for ''[[The Doris Day Show (radio program)|The Doris Day Show]]'' on CBS.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Doris+Day+show,+transcribed%22&pg=PA207 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=207|edition=Revised |access-date=2019-09-16}}</ref> In 1955, he was the announcer for the ''Gary Crosby Show'' on CBS.<ref>{{cite news|title=Looie, Gary Crosby Hot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2213240/gary_crosby_show/ |work=The Pittsburgh Courier|date=September 24, 1955|page=15|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate = April 14, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>

===Television===
In the early 1950s, he was the emcee of a television show called ''Bachelor's Haven''. Also, he was the original announcer for the last season of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', in 1956. He was a regular on [[Betty White]]'s comedy show in 1958 and did announcing work for the early 1960s revival of ''[[The Steve Allen Show]]''. Other shows he worked on included the ''[[Gene Autry]] Show'' and the ''[[Dinah Shore]] Show''. Throughout his career, he occasionally acted in television shows, making guest appearances on ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' (episode 3), ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]'' and ''[[The Munsters]]''. He also appeared, as himself, in ''[[The Gong Show Movie]]''.

==Game shows and final years==
He was the first announcer for ''[[The Joker's Wild]]'', which starred [[Jack Barry (game show host)|Jack Barry]] and debuted on [[CBS]] in 1972. Barry employed Jacobs to announce many such Jack Barry/[[Barry & Enright Productions]] game shows during the early to middle 1970s as ''[[Blank Check (game show)|Blank Check]]'', the 1976 ABC run of [[Break the Bank (1976 game show)|''Break The Bank'']], and ''[[Hollywood's Talking]]'' for CBS.

Most notably, however, [[Chuck Barris]] employed Jacobs's voice talents on the aforementioned ''[[The Newlywed Game]]'' and ''[[The Dating Game]]'', and also for other such Barris productions as ''[[The Gong Show]]'', ''[[Three's a Crowd (game show)|Three's a Crowd]]'' and ''[[The $1.98 Beauty Show]]''. His last job was announcing a Barris-produced version of ''[[Treasure Hunt (US game show)|Treasure Hunt]]'' which was syndicated during the 1981-82 season (Jacobs had also announced the 1970s syndicated version of ''Treasure Hunt'' as well). However, illness forced him to step down from this version of ''Treasure Hunt'' by late 1981, and he was replaced by frequent Barris fill-in announcer Tony McClay. {{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Jacobs died in [[Stockton, California]], where he owned radio station [[KWG radio|KWG]], at the age of 65.<ref>{{cite web |title=Obituaries |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/02/08/Obituaries/2098381992400/ |website=upi.com |publisher=[[United Press International]] |date=8 Feb 1982}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1951-1957|| ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' || Announcer || 32 episodes, Uncredited
|-
|1957|| ''Deep Adventure'' || Narrator ||
|-
|1963|| ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]'' || Mr. Thornton || Episode: "Beaver on TV"
|-
|1966|| ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' || Asst. Shop Owner || Episode: "[[Fine Feathered Finks]]"
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0414479}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Johnny}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Game show announcers]]
[[Category:Radio and television announcers]]
[[Category:Mass media people from Milwaukee]]